EMPOWER ALL OUR WOMEN

Chamber Digest Issue 3/2005 July Issue 2

As South African womenfolk celebrate the first decade of their Women's Day (09 August 2005), is it not incumbent that we should take stock and critique their political, economic and social acceleration within the ten-year period ?
Surely, some commentators will regard woman emancipation as illusion when juxtaposed against the perpetual female subjugation that prevail in rural and farm areas eleven years after the advent of democracy in South Africa.
As a matter of fact, the mainstream civil sphere reflects a resounding victory for womankind in real transformation and affirmative action programmes. Our country's effort to integrate women into the mainstream agenda, and the advocacy of women's empowerment should be attributed to no less a person than President Thabo Mbeki. South Africa is on the right track to equal the 1997 SADC Parliamentary Forum resolution to access 10% women representation in the parliamentary legislatures by 2015.
Who dares to forge; the political milestone of 23 June 2005, when Mbeki appointed Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka as the historic female Deputy President of South Africa ?
Hailing the appointments of women into executive positions is self-defeating because we need every woman to benefit from political and economic development. A serious challenge is evident when you look at the majority of Black economic empowerment (BEE) equity transactions concluded during the past ten years.
Research (see Business Women's Association 2005 March Report) reveals thait we've either overlooked women, were under-represented or were given a very insignificant role in business. Since its common knowledge that women constitute a strong, dynamic force in our society, it becomes imperative that wc should encourage every woman to contribute meaningfully to the development of SA's economy.
If transformation, BEE and affirmative action principles are aimed at increasing participation and changing the racial mix of the class that owns or controls the economic resources, then South Africa should capacitate women in their multitudes. A case in point is the Trade and industry's draft Codes of Good Practice that aim to address the need for women to benefit from economic transformation by setting specific targets of enterprise ownership.
At this stage, I would argue that total liberation was never premised solely to transform patterns of ownership and the management of the economy only. There is still more that needs to be done to secure and consolidate, in order to celebrate Women's Day as a truly glorious honour, encompassing the dignity of all our women. By now we need to have women champions who lead women's empowerment programmes.
The dilemma and critical challenge facing our country are that opportunities are concentrated on a handful of wellknown, established female entrepreneurs at the expense of the heroines lying in the periphery of our metropole settings. In order to realise a holistic dcvelopment programme, this becomes a critical challenge to our various local government leaderships. Therefore, one argues strongly that a base of women entrepreneurs should be established and BEE- programmes must create a sound Black middle class.
South Africa has reached an era whereby we should be increasing the pool of women in empow erment deals through public-private-community partnerships. These interventions should be crafted with the primary motive of reducing poverty among fellow African women, as opposed to the creation of instant millionaires.
As soon as every woman becomes an active participant in the nation's empowerment agenda, and government funded institutions such as SAWID translate to every woman throughout the country, ten year celebrations of Women's Day will ensure that every woman is better positioned as a significant role player in the country's constitutional development.

Submitted by:
Nkonzwenhle Mqadi
Independent Media Practitioner
Tel: 031 3011088
Cell:0825816323 / 0733421599

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EMPOWER ALL OUR WOMEN CITY PRESS 31 JULY 2005

WHEN South African women cel­ebrate the first decade of their Women's Day on August 9, we should take stock and critique their political, economic and social accel­eration in the past 10 years.
Surely, some commentators would regard women emancipation as an illusion when viewed against the perpetual female subjugation that exists in rural areas 11 years after the advent of democracy in South Africa.
As a matter of fact, the main­stream civil sphere reflects a re­sounding victory for womankind in real transformation and affirma­tive action programmes.
Our country's efforts to integrate women into the mainstreain agenda and the advocacy of women's empowerment should be attributed to President Thabo Mbeki.
South Africa has so far surpassed the 1997 SADC parliamentary fo­rum resolution to achieve 30% women representation in the legis­lature by 2005.

Who dares forget the political milestone of June 23 this year when Mbeki appointed Ms Phumzile Miambo-Ngcuka as his deputy?
But hailing the appointments of women into executive positions is self-defeating because we need every women to benefit fully from political and economic develop­ment.
A serious challenge is evident when you look at the majority of black economic empowerment (BEE) equity transactions conclud­ed during the past 10 years reveals.
Research (see Business Women's Association March 2005 Report) reveals that women were either overlooked, under-represented or were given a very insignificant role in business.
Since it is common knowledge that women constitute a strong, dynamic force in our society, it becomes imperative that we should encourage every woman to contribute meaningfully to the development of SA's economy.
If transformation, BEE and affirmative action principles were aimed at increasing participation and changing the racial mix of the class that owns or control the economic resources, South Africa should em­power women in their multitudes.
A case in point is the trade and in­dustry draft codes of good practice that aim to address the need for women to benefit from economic transformation by setting specific targets for enterprise ownership.
At this stage, I would argue that total liberation was never premised solely to transform patterns of own­ership and the management of the economy,
There is still more that needs to be done to celebrate Women's Day as a truly glorious honour en­compassing the dignity of all our women.
We need to have women cham­pions who lead women's empower­ment programmes.
The dilemma and critical chal­lenge facing our country is that op­portunities were confined to a handful of well-known, established female entrepreuners at the ex­pense of the heroines in rural areas.
South Africa should be increas­ing the pool of women in empower­ment deals through public-private-community partnerships.
These interventions should be crafted with the primary motive of reducing poverty among African women as opposed to the creation of instant millionaires.
As soon as every woman becomes a participant in the nation's empowerment agenda, 10-year cel­ebrations of Women's Day would ensure that every woman was bet­ter positioned as a significant role player in the country's development.

NKONZWENHLE MQADI
Durban